The Senate is about to vote on an extension of the controversial FISA Amendments Act -- the unconstitutional law that allows the NSA to spy on Americans speaking to people abroad without a warrant. Yet you wouldn't know it by watching CSPAN because the Senate isn't debating it.

The law was set to expire on December 31, 2012 to ensure thorough review. But Senate leaders have so far refused to schedule any time on the Senate floor for debate or consideration of vital privacy-protecting amendments. Worse, they won't even tell the American public when they're going to vote on it.

EFF Updates

Facebook subsidiary Instagram recently revised their terms of service, adding controversial new terms that will allow the company to monetize your photos. Instagram recently responded to the public outcry, and we hope their upcoming language changes reflect the three key principles we developed for social networking services: informed decision making, control, and the right to leave.

The 15th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement negotiations in New Zealand has concluded, locking out civil society participation in an unprecedented way. Based upon what we have seen from a leaked version of the agreement, the TPP contains language that could effectively pressure ISPs to become Internet cops and criminalize the distribution of DRM-circumvention tools even for fair uses. It would also impede parallel importation of copyrighted goods, among other things. After participating in previous rounds, we could not have imagined that the process could become any less transparent. Amazingly, it did.

EFF posted several thousand pages of new drone license records and a new map that tracks the location of drone flights across the United States. These records, received as a result of EFF's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration, come from state and local law enforcement agencies, universities and -- for the first time -- three branches of the U.S. military: the Air Force, Marine Corps, and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).

On December 14th, EFF was back in federal court challenging the NSA's domestic spying program in our long-running case Jewel v. NSA. We have launched a new section of our website to give everyone a clear understanding how the NSA warrantless wiretapping program works and why it's unconstitutional.

After feminist group FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture launched a fake Victoria's Secret campaign, the lingerie company retaliated by citing trademark and copyright infringement, shutting the parody site down. Though the site was restored soon after, the takedowns highlight, once again, the weakest link problem that plagues Internet speech.

Announcements

Thanks to everyone who joined the Power Up Your Donation campaign. Supporters raised a total of $445,592 for the future of digital civil liberties! EFF has long been proud to be a membership organization whose supporters stand for free speech online, freedom-enhancing technologies, digital innovation, and the fight against illegal surveillance. We fight for the user, and your contributions make all the difference!

The 29th Chaos Communication Congress (29C3), an annual meeting of the international hacker scene organized by the Chaos Computer Club, convenes in Hamburg this year. Mark Burdett from the EFF tech team will be attending.December 27-30, 2012
Hamburg, Germany

Exceptionally Hard & Soft Meeting (EHSM) is a new conference in Berlin exploring the frontiers of open source and DIY hardware and software. Mark Burdett from the EFF tech team will be attending.December 28-30, 2012
Berlin, Germany

Join EFF at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show. It's where products are launched and excitement soars. EFF Staff Attorney Julie Samuels will be on a panel about fighting patent trolls on January 8.January 8-11, 2012
Las Vegas, CA

This large-scale conference aims to enhance regional Internet freedom policies and to promote best practices in online media regulation for key policymakers and experts in the OSCE region. EFF Director for International Freedom Jillian York is a speaker.February 14-15, 2013
Vienna, Austria